We haven't done enough but we're getting there
NO SAYS Jerry Goldman, director of the Beatles Story Museum THE marketing of Beatles products in Liverpool has always been diverse. We have the Magical Mystery Tours, the Cavern Club, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and the Beatles Story Museum to name but a few. Nobody is going to get on a plane from any distance just to see one of these attractions alone. Until recently, there was no organised attempt to market all these different products together. That was our weakness; there was no vehicle to get the message out there to tourists that they could come to Liverpool and fill four or five days visiting Beatles attractions. About 21/2 years ago, the Beatles Story forged links with Cavern City Tours who run the Magical Mystery Tours because we saw that the two products could be used side by side. Together we managed to create a stronger message to send out to the world. We then set about showing Liverpool Culture Company that The Beatles were a strong tool for selling Liverpool overseas. The Culture Company then set up the Beatles Industry Group (BIG) and helped set up a forum of consultants to help all us all look at what we had already, what market we were looking at, and how to position ourselves. It was interesting when we spoke to one lady, who was on the consultancy team. She was young, she had been to Oxford University, was well travelled, she had been in Paris for some time and she was a big Beatles fan. She was just the kind of person we were trying to attract to the city and we thought she must have been to Liverpool before, but she hadn't. We asked her if she knew what Liverpool had to offer. She replied that she had heard about the Cavern Club, but didn't know it was still open. She presumed there must be a house that John Lennon had lived in somewhere in Liverpool. She thought there must be some sort of museum, but she didn't really know. Our message hadn't got out to her or fans like her. BIG, which has since been renamed MBIG, the M is for music, was formed about a year ago to tackle that very problem. We have spent much of that time putting in place a more efficient message. We know that every October the major travel companies start looking at projects for the following year, so we are planning a marketing attack to make the most of that. Recently, a group of us went out to Pisa to promote The Beatles and the recently established flight link between Pisa and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. A Liverpool tribute band, the Mersey Beatles, staged a concert in a square, which was attended by more than 4,000 people. The event was so successful we are hoping to organise more like it. We will probably never do enough, because the scope and potential of The Beatles brand is enormous, but we are certainly getting better at maximising the benefits of the Fab Four to the city. | 
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